Back in my childhood days the first Monday in September was the beginning of the school year. Labor Day as a holiday didn't have much meaning other than getting ready for school. No more going barefoot and playing outdoors all day. The days of going to the swimming pool every morning until lunch and back again in the afternoon were gone until the next summer.
My brothers and sisters, and I had new school clothes and shoes; and dressing that morning was always chaotic. After we passed inspection, Mom drove the smaller ones to their school, but we older ones had to walk to our school buildings in another part of town. On the way we joined neighbor children going our way and chatted enthusiastically about the classes of our higher grade.
We looked forward to finding out who our new teachers were going to be, looking over the books being issued to us, and jostling for seats near our best friends. It was only a half day session, but when it was over, we were expected to be in the right class room, at the right time, with the right teacher the next morning.
It rained all day this Labor Day. I slept until 9:30am. Ate a light breakfast while watching TV. I checked the progress of my various knitting projects and decided I'd better get back to working on the afghan with the Saxon Braid motif. I had put it aside while I waited for the yarn I needed to come in the mail. These days when you run out of yarn, all you have to do is put in an order online and it's mailed to you. I had the yarn now but I was not in a hurry to start knitting. Counting the stitches in one row of the afghan is a lot of work.
So I watched TV and planned my origami crane tree.1 I have been folding cranes and plan to make bonsai trees with them. I make tiny cranes and a few slightly larger ones in all colors. I like folding ninja stars, etc. but nothing really complex.
Today though, I spent the afternoon watching and learning how origami is used in the fields of physics and engineering. Until recently the folding a single sheet of paper with out cuts or tears into a particular shape has been rather simple with only 10 to possibly 30 steps. Now scientists are discovering that using math to make the folds they can involve tens, hundreds, and thousands of folds to achieve a goal.
NASA engineers are experimenting with origami to find ways of sending needed instruments into space. While touring various web sites, I came across one showing how to fold a Herringbone Tessellation.2 Now I'm trying to make one. It looks easy watching someone in a tutorial but doing it is not so easy. I'll send reports on how I make out.
All in all, its been a nice Labor Day.
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